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Tracking the Price of Oil - February 11th to May 15th

2009-05-17T23:44:00Z

Track the daily price movements of oil on twitter!

Oil prices have risen $20.40 (57%) within this time frame:

USO vs. ^DJI

USO vs. EURUSD=X

U.S. Crude Oil Inventories

Overview: Oil prices have been propelled higher by speculation that the economy may be recovering. However, there has been no clear indication that the recession has even bottomed out yet. The current price of oil is unjustifiably inflated as oil fundamentals have been mostly ignored:

May 15th (Friday) - Oil plunges $2.28 to $56.34 a barrel
The reason: The IEA announced that global oil demand will fall by 2.56 million bpd to 83.2 million bpd in 2009, the sharpest annual decline since 1981. Also, euro-zone GDP shrank more-than-expected in the first quarter.

May 14th (Thursday) - Oil climbs 60 cents to $58.62 a barrel
The reason: Wall Street rose while the dollar weakened.

May 13th (Wednesday) - Oil falls 83 cents to $58.02 a barrel
The reason: An unexpected drop in US retail sales in April overshadowed a 4.7 million barrel decline in U.S. crude inventories.

May 12th (Tuesday) - Oil rises 35 cents to $58.85 a barrel
The reason: The dollar index dropped to a four-month low while Wall Street rose.

May 11th (Monday) - Oil falls 13 cents to $58.50 a barrel
The reason: Wall Street fell while the dollar rose.

May 8th (Friday) - Oil jumps $1.92 to $58.63 a barrel
The reason: U.S. employers cut fewer-than-expected jobs in April.

May 7th (Thursday) - Oil rises 37 cents to $56.71 a barrel
The reason: Initial claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected for the week ended May 2nd.

May 6th (Wednesday) - Oil surges $2.50 to $56.34 a barrel
The reason: The EIA inventory report showed a lower than expected build-up while U.S. stocks advanced.

May 5th (Tuesday) - Oil falls 63 cents to $53.84 a barrel
The reason: Analysts expect tomorrow's EIA report to show a 2.2 million barrel rise in U.S. crude inventories.

May 4th (Monday) - Oil rises $1.27 to $54.47 a barrel
The reason: Reports showed that pending sales of U.S. existing homes and spending on construction projects rose in March.

May 1st (Friday) - Oil rises $2.08 to $53.20 a barrel
The reason: US consumer confidence and manufacturing jumped to their highest levels since September 2008.

April 30th (Thursday) - Oil rises 15 cents to $51.12 a barrel
The reason: The Fed stated on Wednesday that the economic outlook has "improved modestly" since last month.

April 29th (Wednesday) - Oil rises $1.05 to $50.97 a barrel
The reason: The Dow rose and gasoline inventories fell 4.8 million barrels. Crude inventories, though, rose 4.1 million barrels.

April 28th (Tuesday) - Oil falls 22 cents to $49.52 a barrel
The reason: Oil continued to decline on swine-flu fears.

April 27th (Monday) - Oil falls $1.44 to $50.15 a barrel
The reason: Oil fell on fear that the swine-flu outbreak might impact fuel demand.

April 24th (Friday) - Oil rises $1.93 to $51.55 a barrel
The reason: Wall Street gained while the dollar weakened.

April 23rd (Thursday) - Oil jumps 77 cents to $49.62 a barrel
The reason: Wall Street gained while the dollar weakened.

April 22nd (Wednesday) - Oil rises 30 cents to $48.85 a barrel
The reason: Oil prices followed Wall Street higher (NYMEX trading ends at 2:30 p.m.) despite the EIA reporting a 3.9 million barrel rise in U.S. crude inventories.

April 21st (Tuesday) - Oil rises 63 cents to $46.51 a barrel
The reason: Oil prices followed Wall Street and the euro higher. Analysts expect tomorrow's EIA report to show a 2.5 million barrel rise in U.S. crude inventories for the week ended April 17th.

April 20th (Monday) - Oil plunges $4.45 to $45.88 a barrel
The reason: The dollar rose to a month-high against the euro while the Dow tumbled ~ 300 points.

April 17th (Friday) - Oil rises 35 cents to $50.33 a barrel
The reason: China's refinery output rose for the first time in five months, a sign that demand in China is possibly recovering.

April 16th (Thursday) - Oil jumps 73 cents to $49.98 a barrel
The reason: Oil prices followed Wall Street higher after jobless claims fell more than expected for the week ended April 11th.

April 15th (Wednesday) - Oil falls 16 cents to $49.25 a barrel
The reason: Oil prices fell only 16 cents despite U.S. crude inventories rising 5.6 million barrels last week, nearly triple what analysts expected. The highly bearish data was mostly offset by a ~ 100 point rise in the Dow!?

April 14th (Tuesday) - Oil drops 64 cents to $49.41 a barrel
The reason: Retail sales slumped an unexpected 1.1% in March. Analysts expect tomorrow's EIA report to show a 1.9 million barrel rise in U.S. crude inventories for the week ended April 10th.

April 13th (Monday) - Oil falls $1.92 to $50.15 a barrel
The reason: The International Energy Agency lowered its 2009 global oil demand forecast on Friday by 1 million barrels to 83.4 million bpd, the lowest level since 2004.

April 9th (Thursday) - Oil jumps $2.86 to $52.24 a barrel
The reason: The Dow rose ~ 250 points after Wells Fargo announced it expected to report a better-than-expected first-quarter profit of $3 billion.

April 8th (Wednesday) - Oil rises 23 cents to $49.38 a barrel
The reason: U.S. crude inventories rose a less-than-expected 1.65 million barrels last week.

April 7th (Tuesday) - Oil falls $1.90 to $49.15 a barrel
The reason: Analysts expect tomorrow's EIA report to show a 2 million barrel rise in U.S. crude inventories for the week ended April 3rd. In addition, Wall Street dropped nearly 200 points while the dollar gained against the euro.

April 6th (Monday) - Oil falls $1.46 to $51.05 a barrel
The reason: Wall Street slumped while the U.S. dollar strengthened.

April 3rd (Friday) - Oil slips 13 cents to $52.51 a barrel
The reason: U.S. unemployment in March was in-line with expectations despite rising to a 25-year high of 8.5%.

April 2nd (Thursday) - Oil surges $4.25 to $52.64 a barrel
The reason: World markets shot up after the G20 agreed on a $1.1 trillion dollar stimulus. The euro also gained against the U.S. dollar after the European Central Bank decided on a smaller than expected rate cut.

April 1st (Wednesday) - Oil falls $1.27 to $48.39 a barrel
The reason: Oil prices fell despite the Dow rising 2% after the EIA reported U.S. crude inventories rose a larger-than-expected 2.8 million barrels last week.

March 31st (Tuesday) - Oil jumps $1.25 to $49.66 a barrel
The reason: With the help of a weaker dollar, oil prices followed U.S. and European stocks higher. Analysts expect tomorrow's EIA report to show a 2.5 million barrel rise in U.S. crude inventories for the week ended March 27th.

March 30th (Monday) - Oil plunges $3.97 to $48.41 a barrel
The reason: Oil prices followed U.S. stocks lower after Obama gave GM and Chrysler an ultimatum: restructure or face bankruptcy. In addition, the U.S. dollar rose against the euro.

March 27th (Friday) - Oil drops $1.96 to $52.38 a barrel
The reason: The U.S. dollar posted its largest one-day gain in more than two months against the euro.

March 26th (Thursday) - Oil jumps $1.57 to $54.34 a barrel
The reason: The U.S. Commerce Department downwardly-revised GDP for the last quarter of 2008 to -6.3%, less than the -6.6% analysts expected.

March 25th (Wednesday) - Oil falls $1.21 to $52.77 a barrel
The reason: The EIA reported that U.S. crude inventories shot up 3.3 million barrels last week, much more than the 1.3 million barrels analysts expected. This brings the total count to 356.6 million barrels, the highest since July 1993! The impact of this rise was partially offset by U.S. gasoline inventories falling 1.1 million barrels, new home sales rising in February, and a weaker dollar due to Geithner's remarks.

March 24th (Tuesday) - Oil rises 18 cents to $53.98 a barrel
The reason: Oil rebounded in anticipation of tomorrow's EIA report after being down for most of the day due to a stronger dollar. Analysts expect gasoline stockpiles to drop 500,000 barrels and crude-oil stockpiles to rise 1.3 million barrels for the week ended March 20th.

March 23rd (Monday) - Oil rises $1.73 to $53.80 a barrel
The reason: The Dow surged 500 points after the U.S. Treasury unveiled its detailed plan to buy up toxic assets. Also, the National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales went up an unexpected 5.1% in February as prices plunged.

March 20th (Friday) - Oil drops 55 cents to $51.06 a barrel
The reason: The U.S. Dollar Index rebounded after 8 consecutive days in the red.

March 19th (Thursday) - Oil surges $3.47 to $51.61 a barrel
The reason: The dollar fell against major currencies after the Federal Reserve announced its plan to inject around one trillion dollars in the economy.

March 18th (Wednesday) - Oil falls $1.02 to $48.14 a barrel
The reason: Today's weekly EIA report showed that gasoline inventories rose by 3.2 million barrels. Analysts expected a drop of 2.1 million barrels.

March 17th (Tuesday) - Oil rises $1.81 to $49.16 a barrel
The reason: Government data showed that the number of housing starts surprisingly jumped by 22 percent in February, the largest percentage rise since January 1990.

March 16th (Monday) - Oil jumps $1.10 to $47.35 a barrel
The reason: In an interview with "60 Minutes", Ben Bernanke said that "we'll see the recession coming to an end probably this year." This optimism overshadowed OPEC's decision to keep output unchanged.

March 15th (Friday) - Oil falls 78 cents to $46.25 a barrel
The reason: An OPEC report released today showed world oil demand contracting faster than expected.

March 14th (Thursday) - Oil surges $4.70 to $47.03 a barrel
The reason: Oil rose on better than expected U.S. retail sales data and in anticipation of OPEC's meeting this Sunday.

March 11th (Wednesday) - Oil plunges $3.38 to $42.33 a barrel
The reason: U.S. crude inventories surprisingly increased 700,000 barrels for the week ended March 6th as analysts had expected a drop of 1 million barrels.

March 10th (Tuesday) - Oil drops $1.36 to $45.71 a barrel
The reason: The U.S. Energy Department cut its world oil demand forecast for 2009.

March 9th (Monday) - Oil gains $1.55 to $47.07 a barrel
The reason: Oil hit a two-month high today on speculation that OPEC will cut more production when it meets this Sunday.

March 6th (Friday) - Oil jumps $1.91 to $45.52 a barrel
The reason: The dollar fell against the euro today, making oil more attractive to foreign investors, as the U.S. unemployment rate jumped to its highest level in 26 years.

March 5th (Thursday) - OIl drops $1.77 to $43.61 a barrel
The reason: Oil prices followed the U.S. stock market lower as the Dow ended at a new 12-year low. Support also came after China announce it will not add to its $586 billion stimulus package.

March 4th (Wednesday) - Oil soars $3.73 to $45.38 a barrel
The reason: Today's EIA report revealed a 700,000 barrel drop in crude inventories for the week ended Feb. 27th. Analysts had expected crude stocks to rise 2.2 million barrels. Additional support came from speculation that China will soon announce a hefty stimulus package.

March 3rd (Tuesday) - Oil rises $1.50 to $41.65 a barrel
The reason: Oil prices rose despite more gloomy U.S. economic data after an oil pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell in Nigeria exploded. Analysts expected tomorrow's EIA report to show a 2.2 million barrels rise in crude inventories and a 600,000 barrel drop in gasoline inventories.

March 2nd (Monday) - Oil plunges $4.61 to $40.15 a barrel
The reason: Oil prices declined sharply today on demand worries as the Dow dropped below the 7000 mark for the first time since 1997. In addition, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that construction spending in January fell to a four-year low.

February 27th (Friday) - Oil slips 46 cents to $44.76 a barrel
The reason: U.S. GDP for the last quarter of 2008 was downwardly-revised from -3.8% to -6.2%.

February 26th (Thursday) - Oil surges $2.72 to $45.22 a barrel
The reason: The main oil supplier of the United Arab Emirates unexpectedly announced today that it will cut 15%-17% of its April crude supplies to Asia. Support also came from yesterday's EIA report which showed U.S. gasoline demand rising.

February 25th (Wednesday) - Oil rises $2.54 to $42.50 a barrel
The reason: Today's EIA report revealed that gasoline inventories unexpectedly dropped 3.4 million barrels and that crude inventories rose only 700,000 barrels. Analysts had expected gasoline inventories to fall 100,000 barrels and crude inventories to rise 2 million barrels.

February 24th (Tuesday) - Oil jumps $1.52 to $39.96 a barrel
The reason: Oil followed US stocks higher after Ben Bernanke told Congress that the nationalization of banks is unlikely and that the "severe" recession could end this year. Tomorrow will be dictated by the EIA's Weekly Petroleum Status Report as analysts expect crude inventories to rise 2 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 20th.

February 23rd (Monday) - Oil slides $1.59 to $38.44
The reason: Oil followed the tumbling U.S. stock market today despite a warning that OPEC will likely cut output when members meet next month on March 15th.

February 20th (Friday) - Oil falls 54 cents to $38.94 a barrel
The reason: Pessimism in the stock market spilled over into oil.

February 19th (Thursday) - Oil surges $4.86 to $39.48 a barrel
The reason: Today's weekly EIA report revealed a surprising drop in U.S. crude inventories. Inventories fell for the first time this year, declining 138,000 barrels. Analysts expected an increase of 1.8 million barrels.

February 18th (Wednesday) - Oil drops 31 cents to $34.62 a barrel
The reason: Investors expect tomorrow's weekly EIA report to show an increase once again in U.S. crude inventories. Analysts estimate an increase of 1.8 million barrels for the week ended Feb. 13th.

February 17th (Tuesday) - Oil tumbles $2.58 to $34.93 a barrel
The reason: Gloomy data around the globe continues to weigh on investor sentiment. Japan reported Monday that it is suffering its worst economic downturn in 35 years.

February 13th (Friday) - Oil shoots up $3.53 to $37.51 a barrel
The reason: The House approved Obama's economic stimulus package today as investors hope this can revitalize demand.

February 12th (Thursday) - Oil slips $1.96 to $33.98 a barrel
The reason: Investors are worrying that inventories will continue to increase due to the overall lack of demand. This is the fifth consecutive day oil has been down.

February 11th (Wednesday) - Oil falls $1.62 to $35.94 a barrel
The reason: A weekly report from the Energy Information Administration revealed a larger-than-expected rise in crude inventories for the week ended Feb. 6th. Supplies rose 4.7 million barrels which surpassed the average analyst estimate of 3 million. Crude inventories have gained in 18 of the past 20 weeks. Lack of demand much?

Friday: Oil plunges $2.28 to $56.34 a barrel

2009-05-15T23:13:00Z

The reason: The IEA announced that global oil demand will fall by 2.56 million bpd in 2009, the sharpest annual decline since 1981. Also, euro-zone GDP shrank larger-than-expected in the first quarter.

Thursday: Oil climbs 60 cents to $58.62 a barrel

2009-05-14T22:51:00Z

The reason: Wall Street rose while the dollar weakened.

Wednesday: Oil falls 83 cents to $58.02 a barrel

2009-05-13T22:43:00Z

The reason: An unexpected drop in US retail sales in April overshadowed a 4.7 million barrel decline in crude inventories.

Tuesday: Oil rises 35 cents to $58.85 a barrel

2009-05-12T22:16:00Z

The reason: The dollar index dropped to a four-month low while Wall Street rose.

Monday: Oil falls 13 cents to $58.50 a barrel

2009-05-11T20:28:00Z

The reason: Wall street fell while the dollar rose.

Friday: Oil jumps $1.92 to $58.63 a barrel

2009-05-08T20:22:00Z

The reason: U.S. employers cut fewer-than-expected jobs in April.

Thursday: Oil rises 37 cents to $56.71 a barrel

2009-05-07T18:22:00Z

The reason: Initial claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected for the week ended May 2nd.

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Wednesday: Oil surges $2.50 to $56.34 a barrel

2009-05-06T18:15:00Z

The reason: The EIA inventory report showed a lower than expected build-up while U.S. stocks advanced.

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Tuesday: Oil falls 63 cents to $53.84

2009-05-06T04:43:00Z

The reason: Analysts expect tomorrow's EIA report to show a 2.2 million barrel rise in U.S. crude inventories.

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Ethanol: Back from the Dead?

2009-05-05T22:10:00Z

Corn-ethanol is still getting some love...

White House Steps Up Support for Biofuels - NY Times

"The White House made its first major statement on ethanol on Tuesday, mustering three Cabinet members to outline a plan to shield corn ethanol producers from the credit crisis, work with them to cut their use of natural gas and coal in ethanol production, and nudge the auto industry toward production of vehicles that can use ethanol at concentrations of up to 85 percent.

In pursuing these goals, the Secretaries of Agriculture and Energy, Tom Vilsack, and Steven Chu, along with the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, Lisa Jackson, announced during a press conference the formation of a “Biofuels Interagency Working Group,’’ comprised of the three agencies."

Also from today:

-The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a stricter GHG emissions standard aimed at making corn-ethanol production more efficient. However, this has caused somewhat of an uproar in the corn-ethanol community.

-The Energy Department is pumping $786 million into the biofuel sector, and the Agriculture Department will contribute $1.1 billion within 30 days.

Ethanol stocks rose significantly as a result:
- Pacific Ethanol (PEIX) rose 17 cents (40.48%) to 59 cents. (Today's volume - 4,697,917/Avg volume - 336,734)
- Verenium Corporation (VRNM) rose 15 cents (39.97%) to 53 cents. (Today's volume - 6,350,891/Avg volume - 1,325,990)
- Bluefire Ethanol Fuels (BFRE.ob) rose 26 cents (38.24%) to 94 cents.
- Aventine (ABRNQ.PK) rose 2.8 cents (32.18%) to 11.5 cents.

Let's see how long these stocks will ride the Obama wave...

Monday: Oil rises $1.27 to $54.47 a barrel

2009-05-04T20:24:00Z

The reason: Reports showed that pending sales of U.S. existing homes and spending on construction projects rose in March.

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Friday: Oil rises $2.08 to $53.20 a barrel

2009-05-01T20:17:00Z

The reason: US consumer confidence and manufacturing jumped to their highest levels since September 2008.

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Thursday: Oil rises 15 cents to $51.12 a barrel

2009-04-30T20:15:00Z

The reason: The Fed stated on Wednesday that the economic outlook has "improved modestly" since last month.

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Wednesday: Oil rises $1.05 to $50.97 a barrel

2009-04-29T20:08:00Z

The reason: The Dow rose and gasoline inventories fell 4.8 million barrels. Crude inventories, though, rose 4.1 million barrels.

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Tuesday: Oil falls 22 cents to $49.52 a barrel

2009-04-28T20:07:00Z

The reason: Oil continued to decline on swine-flu fears.

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Monday: Oil falls $1.44 to $50.15 a barrel

2009-04-28T04:02:00Z

The reason: Oil fell on fear that the swine-flu outbreak might impact fuel demand.

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Friday: Oil rises $1.93 to $51.55 a barrel

2009-04-24T21:16:00Z

The reason: Once again, oil followed Wall Street and the euro higher.

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Thursday: Oil jumps 77 cents to $49.62 a barrel

2009-04-23T21:23:00Z

The reason: Wall Street gained while the dollar weakened.

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Wednesday: Oil rises 30 cents to $48.85 a barrel

2009-04-22T20:58:00Z

The reason: Oil prices followed Wall Street once again despite the EIA reporting a 3.9 million barrel rise in U.S. crude inventories.

Track oil on twitter...